Peggy Lampmans dinnerFeed | Novelist and Food Blogger

Time 2020-11-21 09:03:12

Web Name: Peggy Lampmans dinnerFeed | Novelist and Food Blogger

WebSite: http://dinnerfeed.com

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So here come the holidays. Heaven help us.Baked Apples stuffed with Sweet PotatoesAs the pandemic rips across the planet, this will be a tradition-bashing year. I’ve friends who are delighted with the excuse not to have to drive six hours to eat an overcooked turkey and canned green bean casserole. I know others who, come hell or high water, are keeping a modified version of their holiday tradition.I read an excellent article in the Times, which introduced suggestions on how to manage families getting together (or not) over the holidays in these unprecedented times.Root Vegetable GratinProducts of second marriages, Richard and I have a combined family that includes five children (with partners) and twelve grandchildren. Richard and I have been together thirteen years and have created new traditions that incorporate all of the expected shoulder-to-shoulder hoop-la, celebratory food and trimmings.Since February, we’ve managed visits with individual families when all parties had previously quarantined.  But with five families to think about, combined with record-breaking Covid numbers, this year s holiday get-togethers well folks, they ain t gonna happen.Acorn Squash stuffed with Fruity Wild RicePrior to our marriage, we each had shared custody and are accustomed to spending holidays alone. It became my tradition, in fact, to declare other days Thanksgiving. The promise of effective vaccines gives hope. Perhaps Thanksgiving 2020 will be celebrating during the summer of 2021.In the meantime, I’ve been perusing menu idea for the two of us. On the right column of this page, just beneath the Find Your Favorite Recipe, you ll see a Gold Holiday Ball.Poached Pears and Goat Cheese Panna CottaTap on that, the Holiday Cookbook, and you ll find a slide show (including the pictured dishes) with dozens of well-tested holiday favorites, all just waiting for downsizing. For a scaled-down bird, perhaps a Cornish game hen or turkey breast? Roast Turkey Breast with Cranberry Jus is the featured image on this page.  Baked Apples Stuffed with Sweet Potatoes might be all the accompaniment you d need.For kicks, I’m going to try making a couple of new recipes. One, Crusty Baked Cauliflower and Farro, is adapted from Ina Garten and come’s from Deb’s Smitten Kitchen. The other is for Spatchcocked Buttermilk Brined Turkey. I’ll have leftovers, which will be made into soup for the freezer.Sweet Potato-Pecan PieIt will be a long winter, and nothing soothes my soul like soup.I d love hearing how Thanksgiving will look to you this year. However you intend to paint your Thursday––be it broad strokes or scribble-scrabble––it may look and feel like solitude, but poetically speaking, you ve never found yourself in such an expansive community (-: First, dunk fillets into egg wash.Covid-fatigue. Election fatigue.  Looky, looky––the country s in free-fall! I m sick of reading about it the words I type, are embarrassed to add to the cacophony. To stay mentally well, we need to create our own distractions. Stop the noise, right?So pour me another glass of wine. You say the bottle s empty? Open another while you re up from the couch. Flash to tomorrow searing hangover. Wasn t clarity the objective?Then, dip into dry mix.Fry fillets in peanut oil that s at a 350 degree temp until golden. (Skillets on stovetops work too!)I read a suggestion that one way of fending off the blahs is surfing the internet for a jazzy new mask.Seriously? I ve been a card-carrying member of the pro-mask camp since March, but don t get my jollies shopping for them.Much of what use to bring me pleasure friends, travel, restaurants, theatre, the gym has been hacked off my list.Praise heaven, there are books, writing, music, cooking and the natural world to satisfy. And with the kids working remotely our immediate quarantined fam is spending  more time together. There s much to be grateful for, after all.During the pandemic, we ve migrated from Ann Arbor to the great woods and waters of Northern Michigan. Of late, we ve been searching for good vibrations a bit of retro beach boy vibe.We served this with wild mushroom risotto and a simple tossed saladA few days back, we had a fish fry on the beach. My son-in-law may be fine with just a hat and swim suit in mid-forty degree weather, but I am bundled head-to-toe. The secret, I ve found, to living life comfortably up here is having the right gear. It s called survival we have Lake Michigan beach parties in January.Food always tastes better when someone else is doing the cooking, so I m thrilled when the kids take the reins.The top four  Great Lakes fish are arguably walleye, perch, trout, and whitefish. Of these, walleye and perch are my favorites for frying, and these are the two we used.For our beach fry ingredients, my son-in-law used a pre-seasoned box product he found at our local grocery, Shore Lunch. It was less hassle than my favorite recipe for fried fish, Nut-Crusted Walleye, which could have been substituted for the Shore Lunch .But I wasn t the cook. And this boxed concoction, I confess, was  quite delicious.So stay safe and well, friends. These months will soon be history!BOOK NEWS GIVEAWAY!As you may know, I m one of the host authors on Blue Sky Book Chat, a book club group on Facebook. Until November 8,  ten of us authors are each giving away a book. If you win the random drawing, you may have enough reading material to get through the pandemic!If interested, use this link to participate. You ll see the page for the giveaway. You enter on the condition you sign up for the free, no strings, we hate spam as much as you Blue Sky Book Chat newsletter. There s also a link for you to join Blue Sky Book Chat if you’re not already a member. Don t forget to answer the three simple questions that are required that basically insures that you re a nice person who enjoys literature (-:Good luck! Fresh batch of Instant Pot yogurt!My kids gave me an Instant Pot for Mother’s Day. Both passionate cooks, they told me they couldn t imagine life without the contraption. But, to be honest, I rolled my eyes when opening the box—the last thing I need is another kitchen gadget cluttering my counters.That s until I spied a yogurt button on the panel. I can make yogurt with this thing? I’ve never tasted a yogurt in this country that was anywhere near as delicious as the yogurts consumed on my overseas travels. So, I purchased an heirloom yogurt starter culture from Greece, rolled up my sleeves and have been making yogurt bi-monthly since. I love the stuff. Even if I make nothing more than yogurt, this gadget has earned its place on the counter.And then along came tomatoes. Too many, too fast. How much freezer space do I have? Maybe this Insta-thing can speed up the process I use for making the marinara’s I freeze each year. So I read dozens of Instant Pot marinara recipes experimented a bit and holy smoke––have I died and gone to heaven? Honestly. The following no-recipe recipe yielding about 16 cups of delicious sauce is a cinch and could be adapted to stove top cooking:Use the sauté feature on the pot for sweating aromatics onion, carrots, celery in fats such as EVO, bacon drippings or a neutral oil, depending on type of sauce. (For the clean simplicity of a classic marinara, just stick with onions sweated in olive oil, tomatoes and dried Italian herbs.)Deglaze with about ½ cup of red wine or stock and reduce.Stir in about 16-18 cups of cored, quartered tomatoes, skins, pulp, seeds to fill most of the pot. (I used about 18 small to medium-sized tomatoes.) You may want to stir in chopped garlic at this point—I’ve found the sauté feature runs hot and will burn garlic if sautéed with the onions in the beginning.For Italian marinaras, stir in a couple of bay leaves,  three Tablespoons of your favorite Italian dried herbs and a solid pinch of red pepper flakes. (See paragraph below for other suggestions.) This recipe yields a thinnish sauce, which I often prefer (pasta starches thicken it up) and is perfect for tomato-based soups.For thicker marinaras, before pressure cooking, flatten 14-18 ounces of tomato paste on the top of the tomatoes with a spatula. Don’t stir the paste in with the tomato mixture or it may burn.Close the lid and set the steam release knob to the sealing position. Press the Pressure Cooker or the Manual dial and adjust to 20 minutes. I let the steam naturally release for several hours when the cooking time is over, mainly because I’m ready to be out of the kitchen at this point.After the marinara is cool, remove the bay leaves (if using) and stick an immersion blender into pot whiz everything together. (A food processor also works but it involves more cleaning.) Add kosher or sea salt and additional red pepper flakes, to taste. I haven’t felt the addition of sugar necessary, but many add a bit of sugar to taste, at this point.In essence, marinara  is a classic study in simplicity. But outside my dreams, I don’t live in southern Italy––Michigan winters are long, and Richard and I enjoy variety.Zucchini (salted raw and drained on paper towels) and cooked farro were added to this batch.To date, I’ve made and frozen classic marinara; marinara with chopped olives, anchovies and capers; marinara seasoned with saffron and fennel (for anticipated fish stews and steamed mussels); beef and bacon marinaras for paparadelle; I’ve tossed (uncooked) sliced zucchini and farro into my classic version and I made a Southwest version (think enchilada casserole) with corn and chipotles. See why I needed to save time? (-:The most time-consuming part of the above exercises has been getting most of the water out of the zucchini before adding to the completed marinara especially since I don t thicken the sauce with tomato paste.A Spicy Thai Eggplant Marinara with Coconut Milk and Lemon Grass is next on the docket. How thrilling to be able to thaw a container of such bliss on a frigid January eve!Beneath these pics I ve included a favorite song that always reminds me to soak in the essence of this beautiful golden month:This recipe makes about 16 cups of marinara.Salt raw zucchini and drain on paper towels until a good bit of the water is removed.After cooling, whiz the cooked tomatoes together with an immersion blender.The Welcome Home Diner Cousins Addie and Samantha decide to risk it all with a culinary career that starts with renovating a vintage diner in a depressed area of Detroit. There’s just one little snag in their vision...The Promise Kitchen: A NovelMy Travels Taste buds prickle; wanderlust triggered. An Argentine barbecue (asado) enticed me to Patagonia. A friend gave me a vial of ground sumac berries--4 months later I waswaking at dawn to the "Call To Prayer" in Turkey. Porcini to Tuscany, and so on. Read more about my chronicles of trips and favorite associated recipes. Browse my travel recipes... My ProjectsHere are ideas gleaned from others that speak to me;where I highlight projects that bring friends, neighborhoods, and communities together. For me, complimentary food makes the project and event more fun. Browse my projects and related recipes...

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